Great Lakes Advisors LLC Trims Stake in News Corporation $NWSA

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60,431 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in News were worth $1,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in News by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of News by 2.9% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of News by 0.6% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 74,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,200,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 4.3% in the third quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC now owns 11,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in News by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 36,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $27.03 on Friday. News Corporation has a 12-month low of $23.38 and a 12-month high of $31.61. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.04. News had a return on equity of 5.68% and a net margin of 13.80%.The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NWSA shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Zacks Research raised News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, News presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.68.

News Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.